


Snowed In

by Wileycap



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Just a silly fic, Repression
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:08:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27014773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wileycap/pseuds/Wileycap
Summary: Akko and Diana managed to get snowed in. Inside a castle. In the summer.But hey, at least slowly freezing to death is a great opportunity to chat up a girl, right?Right?
Relationships: Diana Cavendish/Atsuko "Akko" Kagari
Comments: 8
Kudos: 108





	Snowed In

**Author's Note:**

> Hello. It is me, the worthless author and even though I can't finish my old fics, I have another fic. Please take it.

Two witches made their way through the halls of Luna Nova in the early morning.

“You must understand that no matter your anecdotal evidence, in order for us to consider it a scientific law, there would have to be some hard data,” Diana Cavendish explained, stifling a yawn and gesturing vaguely towards her companion. Her sleek, elegant broom was held on her shoulder, and her hair was windswept and unkempt. Her eyes were still bleary, and her usually perfect posture was slightly slumped, as if her body was searching for a bed to fall upon and was lowering itself in preparation.

Diana _was_ a morning person. She really was. But waking up at four in the morning (on a Saturday!) to go ride brooms was insane, and she wasn’t insane. Sadly, her companion was, and since said companion had been infectiously happy about being able to fly for the past few weeks, Diana couldn’t bring herself to deny her an early-morning practice session. She had compromised by only waking up halfway and promising herself to sleep in afterwards.

“I got hit by the only giant pigeon in England!” Her companion, on the other hand, was wide awake – Atsuko ‘Akko’ Kagari strode beside her, dragging a broken broom behind her, her expression betraying mostly frustration. The broom looked as if a giant had smacked it, as it was still in one piece, but had folded in half at the centre. The agitated brunette gestured at it. “Come on, how many times have you seen stuff like this happen to me?”

Diana considered it. “Admittedly, quite a few times. At least the pigeon was nice about it. But the fact remains that in order for the ‘Akko Unluckiness Principle’ become a scientific law, it must be tested, and the results should be recorded.”

“Well, I’ve got plenty of tests already, and when it comes to recording the results, couldn’t you just ask all my friends? I mean, just the other day, me and Andrew” – turning her head away from Akko, Diana allowed herself a small grimace at the mention of Andrew.

 _That is childish_ , she told herself. Akko was perfectly free to date whomever she pleased. In fact, good for her that she was dating Andrew! While it was true that Akko and Andrew hadn’t officially announced their relationship, the signs were depressingly clear. The turning point had happened only last week, as Akko had spent a night at the Hanbridge Estate; as an invited guest, this time.

Diana had been sad, that was true. It was perfectly ordinary to be sad if the person you wished to date started dating another. But it was only infatuation, Diana reasoned to herself, and she would make it through it like an adult; and even if the mention of Andrew Hanbridge was liable to make her irrationally angry for now, it only meant that she would simply have to hide her displeasure and focus on the happiness she felt for her friend. Sacrificing a friendship for such a trivial reason as a crush would be immature and inelegant.

 _Not to mention sacrificing the chance to look at her posterior when she drags you out to fly at four in the morning_ , a small, sly voice inside her spoke. That voice had appeared only recently, and highly resembled Manbavaran’s deadpan tones. Diana suspected that the potions mistress had infected her.

“Diana?” Akko demanded, and Diana realised that she had likely missed something, lost in her butt-related musings.

“Pardon?” Diana asked, trying her best to look innocent. Akko rolled her eyes, and pointed at the bucket, sitting on the floor of the hallway in front of them. Beside it was a door, likely a cleaning supplies closet, from where

“I wanna test our theory,” Akko explained. Diana raised her eyebrows at “our theory”, briefly imagining herself being published in the Scholarly Sorceress as the co-author of the “Akko Unluckiness Principle.” Then, immediately, her heart fluttered at the thought of being co-authors with Akko. Somehow, to Diana, that was more intimate than being lovers. “I’m going to kick that bucket, and we’re going to see if anything catastrophic happens.”

“I predict that an angry faerie will come scold you for kicking their cleaning buckets,” Diana said. “But other than that, absolutely nothing of interest will happen.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Well, you might hurt your foot.”

“Wanna bet?” Akko asked, a familiar competitive glint appearing in her eyes. “Winner gets… anything they want!”

This got Diana’s attention. Before she managed to dismiss the idea as ludicrous, the idea of asking Akko to break up with Andrew flitted across her brainstem, before nestling somewhere deep into the part of her brain that controlled dreams and desires. Still, she was fairly sure that wasn’t within the scope of the bet, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t still accept it… after all, they were friends, Diana decided. And there were plenty of safe, friendly directions to take this particular friendly bet. In a very friend-like manner. Friends.

So…

“Anything I want?” Diana asked.

“Anything _the winner_ wants,” Akko corrected.

“That is what I said,” Diana maintained, allowing the barest hint of smugness to show in her voice. Akko pouted. “No boundaries whatsoever?”

“Well, common sense, obviously,” Akko stated. Then, noticing that Diana’s lips had quirked in the way they usually did before she teased Akko, she added: “Like, no asking me to drop out of Luna Nova or go make out with Finnelan or anything like that.”

Diana thought it over. Let Akko kick the bucket and collect an easy reward (of some undefined but definitely friendly sort) or demand they move on and gain perhaps five more seconds’ time to sleep. It wasn’t much of a choice.

“Very well, I accept.” Diana said, nodding at Akko.

Akko nodded back and turned to the bucket. For a moment, she eyed it, like a bullfighter taking in a – well, not a bull, obviously, but a very menacing bucket, anyways. Taking a running start, she leapt forward and kicked the bucket with all her might.

Several things happened in quick succession. First of all, there was a very loud gasping sound that brought with it an unearthly chill. Secondly, a gaggle of small, blue-and-white sprites burst out of the upturned bucket and flew off, trailing snowflakes behind them, which covered the entire hallway, turning it into a winter wonderland. Thirdly, three very alarmed professors burst out of the door.

“Kagari!” shouted Professor Finnelan, who was at the head of the gaggle of professors. Trailing her were Professors Badcock and Nelson. All three were wearing very heavy robes and overcoats. “Why – you – what did you do?”

“What did I do? Hey, Diana is here, too!” Akko yelled back, indignantly gesturing at Diana, who was busy taking in the sudden indoors winter. “Why are you blaming me?”

“So, you’re saying you didn’t upturn that bucket?” Finnelan demanded, crossing her arms and trying very hard not to shiver.

“I kicked it, but…” Akko faltered, fidgeting with her skirt. At the sight of Finnelan’s smug expression, she fired up again. “Hey! How was I supposed to know that knocking over that bucket would cause all this? What do you even have that there for?”

“Well, you see, I lifted it out because it was making the lounge awfully cold…” started Badcock, somewhat shamefacedly.

“Shh, Samantha!” Finnelan hissed. She drew a sharp breath and turned back to Akko. “It was there, _because nobody expected some idiot to go around kicking buckets over at five thirty in the bloody morning_!”

“Ah, Anne, calm down,” said Nelson, gruffly. “It’s not as if this is the first time. Or even the first time this week…”

Finnelan huffed and busied herself with mumbling enchantments at the bucket. Nelson’s words had piqued the interest of Diana, who had crouched down to examine one of the enchanted piles of snow that were currently multiplying on the floor. The piles, which were freely moving about, had about the same temperament as your regular dog – only any time they hit another pile, they created two more piles. Which meant that the hallway was currently becoming overrun with sentient piles of snow.

“Professor Nelson?” Diana asked, politely, despite the fact that she was quickly becoming very cold. “You mean to say that this has happened before?”

“Yes,” Nelson confirmed. “That bucket Akko knocked over is the Bucket of Eternal Frost. Stupid name, I know, the witch who first gathered all the frost sprites in there wasn’t really gifted at names. The Finnish University of Magic loaned it to England for a while, so we could conduct some climate research. But the damn thing keeps tipping over and it’s bloody freezing to be around it, to boot… no wonder the Finns are miserable people…”

At Diana’s polite, but freezing, gaze, Nelson picked up the pace of her explanation. “Anyways, it’s no big deal when it tips over. We just need to find the little frost buggers and shove them back in.”

“I see. Perhaps I can render some assistance-“ Diana began, and was quickly cut off by Akko.

“Yeah! We’ll help but them back in!” Akko exclaimed, adding herself onto Diana’s offer and giving a thumbs up.

“Absolutely not!” Finnelan snapped, hefting the bucket up. “With your luck, it’ll mean that we’ll be covered in snow for the next bloody century!”

Before Akko could protest, Finnelan whirled at Diana. “I’m making you personally responsible for seeing that Kagari does not leave that teacher’s lounge before this is all over!”

“Yes, ma’am!” Diana said, dutifully, as Akko gaped, too offended to really even argue. Together, they watched as the three stressed-looking teachers took off – to make it only a few steps forwards, before Badcock turned around and ran back inside what was apparently a teacher’s lounge, and not a cleaning closet, as Diana had suspected.

Badcock rummaged around in the room for a while, before emerging with an armful of the same kinds of heavy robes that each of the professors was currently wearing.

“In case we meet any students wandering in the hallways – so they don’t freeze, you know,” she explained, smiling as she dashed back past Akko and Diana to join the other teachers. “I left you one, too, girls! You’ll have to share, but you’re adults! Or so-and-so! You’ll manage!”

Slightly confused, both young witches glanced at each other. From far off, they could hear Finnelan’s voice:

“-- for heaven’s sakes, Samantha, is the bet _really_ that important—”

“That damn Ursula’s cleaned my clock every time until now! If I have to rig the game to win, I’ll do it!” they heard Badcock declare in response, before the trio disappeared around a corner.

“Well,” Diana said, after the sounds of footsteps had faded and Akko showed no desire to move. “Shall we go in?”

Akko scoffed. “You’re really just going to do what Finnelan tells you?”

“Firstly, yes. I am a star pupil, after all,” Diana said, teeth chattering slightly. “Secondly, it is, in fact, f-freezing in here, and w-we are we-wearing sk-sk- _skirts_.”

“Fi-fine,” said Akko, who was managing to be begrudgingly freezing.

Kicking snow piles out of the way, both witches squeezed in the door and into the teacher’s lounge, which was thankfully illuminated by a warmly glowing fireplace. As they collapsed in front of the fireplace, Diana glanced at Akko.

“I would like to offer my congratulations.” she said, wryly.

“Huh?” Akko asked, confused.

“You won the bet.”

* * *

The fire was nice and toasty, but before too long, the unearthly frost had crept in and was nipping at their backs as they sat facing the fire. They had slowly gotten closer to the fire as the frost crept in, and now they couldn’t have been closer to the fire unless they had been sitting _in_ the fire, and yet it was still cold.

Both witches had taken to eyeing the one, heavy, snuggly-looking blanket-robe that Badcock had left them. Neither had wanted to be the one to take it, as that would have seemed selfish, and neither could work up the courage to suggest sharing it. Akko knew exactly why she didn’t want to suggest it, and all of her reasons for that reluctance were more or less lewd.

Diana, on the other hand, was probably just too prim and proper to suggest something like that, Akko had decided. The blonde was sitting a respectful distance from her, looking into the fire, looking all inscrutable and elegant and composed and – agh! _Be less gorgeous!_ Akko admonished her, internally.

Akko thought back to her conversations with Andrew. The Hanbridge heir had told her that Diana wasn’t stuck up, she was more shy – which Akko found hard to believe, as Diana was always incredibly… incredible. Her expressions were neutral and controlled, her posture was perfect, her cheekbones were nice and sharp – not relevant – and the point was that Diana was basically perfect. Nothing about her betrayed shyness, only incredible self-control. But Andrew had said that her incredible self-control was all _because_ she was shy.

Akko couldn’t wrap her head around it. To her, shy people shied away from everything – she had no experience with people who built elaborate masks to hide the fact that they were shy in the first place. But she trusted Andrew, and so she had tried to watch Diana like a hawk (well, if a hawk was easily distracted, not very predatory and not a terribly good flier) looking for any sign of a shy person underneath all of the perfection.

She had an entirely selfish motive for her observation. If Diana were to have some sort of weakness, a chink in her armour, that was something Akko could exploit to finally bring her rival down and make her Akko’s lover!

Akko was dramatic in all things, love included.

“Are you thinking of your reward?” Diana asked, shaking Akko out of her thoughts. Behind the door, they could hear the little snow piles flopping about.

“Huh?” replied Akko, momentarily lost. “Oh! Reward. Yeah, that’s what I was… thinking of.”

“I could tell. You had the same diabolically dreamy look you always have when you are aiming to get me into trouble.” Diana said, dryly. Then she coughed. “And by ‘dreamy’, I mean, that you looked to be as if in a dream, not, ah, that I would find you… dreamy. In that sense.”

Akko resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She already thought she had no chance with Diana, anyways, why did the blonde have to step on her dreams like that? “Thanks for the vocab lesson, Professor Diana.”

Across from Akko, Diana’s thoughts briefly but thoroughly flitted on the possible further uses for the memory she now had of Akko saying _Professor Diana_ , and… any implications thereof. Dismissing the distracting thoughts, she played along, pulling off a convincing imitation of Professor Ursula. “I am always interested in furthering your education. Oh, my goodness, I seem to have left my unnecessarily revealing stage outfit somewhere – would you excuse me as I go and change?”

Across from Diana, Akko’s thoughts came to a full stop upon the mental image of Diana in Shiny Chariot’s old costume. She croaked lightly and wracked her brain for a way to change the subject before she ended up asking Diana to yes, please change into a Shiny Chariot outfit. Something on one of the desks caught her eye.

“A-ha! Drink that!” she yelped, triumphantly pointing at the object she had spotted behind Diana’s back.

Diana turned to look. On a desk – that she assumed to be Finnelan’s, only because it bore a striking resemblance to her own desk in all of its’ neatly ordered glory – was a small, black bottle with a large, hollow stopper on it. Akko stood up and marched to the desk, holding up the bottle for Diana to see.

“Are you serious?” Diana asked, incredulously. “Finnelan took that off of Amanda for a reason. It is quite dangerous – the side effects alone are terrifying.”

“Wait, the only known side effect is ‘mild oversharing lasting up to one hour after ingestion’…” Akko pondered, reading the label.

“Exactly,” Diana said, very quickly. “ _Terrifying._ ”

“Come on, Diana,” Akko whined. “It’s my reward! You promised!”

“We agreed on a _common sense_ clause, as I recall,” Diana huffed. “Common sense dictates that it is a supremely bad idea to imbibe a highly potent truth potion.”

The black vial was indeed a truth potion, the so-called True Truth Potion (the original brewer, while a gifted alchemist, had somewhat sucked at naming things) and the special thing about it was that it was the only truth potion that forced the drinker to _answer_. The problem with most truth potions – of which there were several different sorts – was that even after drinking, the drinker could simply refuse to answer any questions, which made it so that usually one would have to trick the other into drinking a truth potion if one wanted any answers, and then ask questions while the other person was unaware that they couldn’t lie – and this method usually only worked once, after which the person in question could simply clam up and ride out the potion.

But the True Truth Potion was different. The effect lasted only a brief period; but during that time, the recipient was literally unable to keep secrets. Any question presented to them, they would have to answer truly, honestly and fully. It was highly sought after by various entities – Secret Witch Services, regular police, governments – for its uses in spycraft and intelligence work, and even more highly sought after by teenaged witches, for its uses in party games.

Truth or Truth was the name of the game, and Diana detested it. She wanted her secrets to remain her own, thank you very much. Especially any and all secrets concerning Akko.

Akko, who was giving her the most adorable puppy dog stare.

“Dianaaa…” she pleaded, locking her red eyes onto Diana’s blue ones. “Friends share secrets, and it’s more fun when you can’t lie. Come on, I won’t ask anything super personal. Come on, Diana!”

“I repeat myself: no, absolutely not!” Diana insisted. “We would have to be much closer than merely friends for me to place myself in such an unguarded position. Not that I would like to be any closer. Friendship is fine.”

Akko had a sly look in her eye. Quick as a cat (if a cat was clumsy and not that quick) she latched her hand onto Diana’s, which were crossed on her lap.

“But we are closer.” she said, leaning toward Diana, who was trying to back away without leaving the lovely warmth of the fire. Despite the chill surrounding them, Diana felt strangely warm.

“We – we are?” Diana asked, hoarsely. Akko nodded, leaning even closer.

“Much closer,” Akko breathed. Diana’s breath wasn’t exactly caught in her throat – it was more as if her breath had been suddenly mugged on the way from work and was now busy giving a statement to the police, causing a strange sensation where Diana was fairly sure that she had drawn a breath, but couldn’t quite figure out where it had gone. “We’re… _dear friends._ ”

Diana froze.

Her eyes narrowed. Akko was trying to suppress her smile.

With her free hand, she shoved the grinning, giggling Akko back onto her backside.

“That was a low blow, _dear friend_ ,” Diana seethed. “Just because you read my diary _once_ …”

“But see, Diana? Even though I read your diary, I’ve never told anyone else, right?” Akko retorted. She had read Diana’s diary after the heiress had given it to her by accident, meaning to give Akko some study materials. Sadly for her, the entry Akko had read had been about Diana’s burgeoning feelings for the clumsy witch – though, for once, Diana’s massive repression had served in her favour: even though to her, she was clearly talking about her infatuation, to an outside reader, she was merely talking about her deep appreciation of her “dear friend”, Akko. And even more thankfully, Akko had returned the diary to her as soon as she had figured it out, because right on the next page, Diana had sketched Akko’s name inside a heart. Even for Akko, that one would have been hard to misunderstand. Akko kept on talking. “Well? Have I ever teased you about it in front of Sucy? Lotte? Amanda? No! Because I, Akko Kagari, resolve to keep your secrets, and only tease you about them when we’re alone!”

Akko declared that last part with the conviction of someone resolving to defend their friend to the death.

Despite the overdramaticism of her friend, Diana did feel more at ease. It was true that Akko was loyal to her friends – she’d never bring up any of Diana’s secrets in public to tease or to be cruel. Diana was more worried that Akko would blurt something out by accident, or because she trusted all of her friends, even Manbavaran, but…

then again, it would make Akko happy. And Diana did trust her, more than most people.

And, if she was being honest, sharing secrets with Akko, all alone together, did sound rather…

“… very well,” Diana said, withering under Akko’s expectant gaze. Before the brunette could celebrate, however, Diana held up her hand. “But I do have some conditions – three, to be precise. First of all, no questions of the romantic nature, and no, you are not permitted to ask why. Secondly, three questions only. And thirdly… well, in fact, I do not have a third point, but it would have sounded strange to only have two.”

“I have a third condition! I have to play, too!” Akko interjected, bouncing up and down excitedly. “This is gonna be so much fun! Yay!”

With that, the brunette excitedly started to fiddle around with the bottle, leaving Diana to wonder at her strange definition of ‘fun’. The large stopper was hollow, which made it into a perfect shot glass, and into it, Akko poured some of the odd-looking black liquid that was the True Truth Potion.

She extended her hand, and the stopper, out to Diana, who accepted it gingerly – eyeing the black liquid like the worst poison in the world.

“Okay, so, Amanda told me that one shot equals about forty-five seconds of, um, truthiness,” Akko explained, fumbling over her words. “So, first you’ll do a shot, then I’ll do one, but make sure to give me time to think of a question, first- Diana!”

Diana had thrown back the shot as soon as Akko had said ‘first you’ll do a shot’, and gagged on the liquid, inadvertently putting Akko, who had no question ready, on the spot.

“Come on! Ahh, what to ask, what to ask,” Akko pondered, frantically. The seconds seemed to tick down. “Um, um, what do you want to do most right now?”

Diana felt strange. As soon as the potion passed her lips, a strange sort of restlessness spread to her limbs. Before her was her dear friend, her secret crush, and suddenly Diana _longed_ to deepen that connection. She could physically feel an urgent need to share something, to give some piece of herself to Akko – even just one answer. She could suddenly understand very well why this potion worked so well in comparison to other truth potions – while other truth potions _took away_ one’s capacity to lie, the True Truth Potion _gave_ one such an intense want to share that it was impossible to resist.

“I want to get inside that robe with you, _right now_ ” Diana gasped, pointing at the heavy blanket-robe that Badcock had left them. She felt deeply satisfied that she had shared that with Akko – more deeply satisfied than she remembered ever feeling. It was as if somebody had put her soul, the very essence of her being, into a lovely bath that was _just_ the right temperature. Diana wanted to share more. “And then I want to grab you- and- and _cuff you upside the head for making me play this idiotic game!_ ”

Diana shuddered. The potion’s effect had worn off at just the right time. She felt a twinge of sadness as the perfectly content feeling she had been enjoying ebbed away.

Akko pouted.

“Aww, I wasted my first question to find out you’re cold and you don’t like playing this game,” Akko grumbled, rising up and trudging to the robe. She grabbed it dejectedly and walked back to Diana. “’Kay, let’s get in there.”

Diana looked at the robe, suddenly very nervous.

“You know what? I am actually quite warm, so there will be no need to-“ Diana began.

Just then, the unearthly gasp they had hear previously sounded again, and an ethereal chill filled the room, making both witches shiver violently. The attack of the cold was so furious that even the fire seemed to turn frosty.

“… p-p-please ge-get in the ro-ro-robe with me.” Diana finished, teeth chattering.

* * *

A few seconds earlier, Finnelan had just straightened up, satisfied.

“There,” she said, dropping the last frost sprite into the bucket. The cold started to recede. “Thank goodness that didn’t take long. Now we can go and give Kagari some detention. I’ll just sound the all clear for the students… damn it, where’s my wand… can someone hold the Bucket for a while?”

“Oh, I can take it,” Badcock said, angelically, as the distracted Finnelan handed her the Bucket. “Thank you, Anne.”

“Yes, thank you, Samantha…”

“Oops!”

“Samantha!” two voices cried out, as an unearthly gasp resounded throughout the castle, and the cold redoubled, the frost sprites once again escaping from the bucket.

“For heaven’s sakes, Samantha! Is the bet _really_ that important?!” Finnelan demanded, furiously.

“What bet?” Badcock asked, poorly feigning innocence. “My hands are not as young as they used to be, sometimes I drop things…”

Finnelan growled her frustration and stalked off to re-recapture the frost sprites.

* * *

Akko shifted again, causing Diana immense agony.

As she changed position, her knee briefly brushed against the top of Diana’s thigh, making her shiver. The cold outside the robe they were now sharing was extreme, but the heat inside of it was _unbearable_. Yet, Diana concluded, slightly less unbearable than frostbite. The robe was overly large – even for a very large person – but the two of them were still in uncomfortably close proximity. They could just and just sit on the floor, next to the fire, without touching each other too much, but any movement meant that they would have to brush up against the other in some way or other.

“Alright, let the games continue!” Akko declared, digging the vial out from somewhere in the depths of the robe. “Your turn to ask. And because I’m super fair, I’ll let you think of a question even though you didn’t let me think. So, when you’re ready!”

With that, Akko poured herself a shot and settled to look at Diana, who was hard at work trying to figure out what would be safe to ask of the brunette. Diana wondered what, exactly, would be information that Akko didn’t otherwise volunteer, considering that Akko seemed to tell everything to everybody.

Well, there was one thing…

“Very well, I am ready,” Diana said. Akko nodded, excitedly, and chugged down the black liquid. Immediately, Diana could see Akko’s pupils grow and her breath quicken, as she remembered exactly how restless the potion had made herself. “What do you actually think about me?”

The question was terrifying to ask. What if it came out that Akko hated her? Or thought her to be dull, or overbearing, or cold. To hear Akko say that would be devastating to Diana.

“Well, you can be a little boring sometimes, and definitely overbearing, and sometimes you’re just downright _cold_ ,” Akko said. Diana’s eyes narrowed. _Seriously? The exact words?_ “But really, now that I really know you, I see how you’re so generous and kind, and how you care about people so much, and how you really want to help everyone. It’s incredible. You’re incredible! You’re also super good at magic, you’re so composed, and you’ve got fantastic boo-“

Akko’s eyes widened, as her pupils sharpened again, and the effect of the potion wore off.

“ _Books!_ Books on your bookshelf in your Luna Nova dormitory!” Akko spluttered. She wasn’t quite as good as Diana at hiding the transition between truth and lie.

“I have ‘fantastic books on my bookshelf’?” Diana repeated, her tone flat, even though she was fairly sure that what Akko had actually been talking about _wasn’t._

“Y-yes.” Akko had turned red.

“I had no idea you had such appreciation for literature,” Diana said, dryly, raising an eyebrow. “Pray tell, which one is your favourite? I’ll be happy to lend it to you.”

Akko flushed a deeper shade of red and muttered something.

“Excuse me? I didn’t quite catch that.” Diana deadpanned. Akko ducked her head down from the neck of the robe they both shared, much like a turtle retreating into its shell. Diana looked down, allowing herself a small smirk that Akko couldn’t see. “My apologies. I see that you’ve retreated down there to consult some _books._ ”

“Shut up,” Akko grumbled, quickly lifting her head back up. “It’s not your turn, anyways. Just watch, I’m going to think of some super hard question to embarrass you…”

Diana’s smirk widened slightly at Akko’s offended muttering, but she didn’t prod further. Instead, she allowed the conversation to slip into a lull, and focused on Akko’s words. “You’re incredible.” _Incredible._ There was a splash of warmth in her heart at that. And she had actually meant it! Diana could have leapt with joy.

And then there had been the compliment about her body. Was that… could that be… but Akko was with Andrew. It would make no sense for her to be attracted to Diana, as well. _Unless_ , of course, Akko was bi, and Diana had simply been too late, which would be an excruciating thought – much more so than Akko simply not being interested.

Or, it could simply be that Akko admired parts of Diana’s body. One could do that without any attraction, surely.

Right?

Across from her, Akko had a hard time thinking about a question. She wanted to pay Diana back for teasing her, and she wanted to gain some sort of insight into Diana (which might help her in her plan to finally end their rivalry with a decisive victory and move onto being lovers) but it couldn’t be about Diana’s romantic life. What to ask, what to ask…

“Who do you dislike the most?” Akko blurted out, without thinking. “Oh, shoot, I forgot to make you drink the potion, first…”

“Andrew,” Diana said, automatically. And then clapped her hand over her mouth, horrified. _Oh, no! Mild oversharing!_

“What?!” Akko was shocked. “Why do you hate Andrew?”

“I don’t! I, I, I simply…” Diana spluttered. Akko’s eyes narrowed as Diana trailed off.

“Drink the potion. I figured out my question.” Akko spoke, with an edge to her voice.

“I refuse.” Diana replied, looking away. “I no longer wish to play.”

“Oh, you don’t wish?” Akko’s tone was dangerous. “I’m gonna make you.”

“And how do you presume you’ll do that?” Diana asked, attempting to appear confident while eyeing the brunette nervously.

“I’ll do something you really hate, if you don’t.” Akko threatened. She appeared ready to pounce. Diana’s eyes widened. Akko’s posture was downright threatening, and they were both trapped under an oversized robe – there was no escape. But that wasn’t all. No, there was something worse, a feeling that had crept into Diana’s mind…

she sensed a cliffhanger.

**Author's Note:**

> Akko: Hey babe. Nice books.
> 
> Diana: Thank you. I’m glad you’re demonstrating an interest in literature – in fact, these tomes are original bindings by one of history’s greatest witches, Catherine, and… 
> 
> Akko:
> 
> Diana:
> 
> Diana: and it has just occurred to me that you were not talking about books at all.


End file.
